[Bell Historians] Re: Benjamin Annable

[Chris Pickford]

All very interesting - and worth pursuing further. Can't add anything by way of information, but here are some research suggestions

A quick genealogical check does indicate the Cripplegate Benjamin (baptised 1702) as a strong contender, but Family Search also lists a Benjamin baptised at Duffield in the same year. I haven't played with alternative spellings, so there may be more

Re apprenticeships, there are lots of possibilities. 

The first is pauper apprentceship by the parish authorities (e.g. the Cripplegate Overseers placing a lad with a master to give him a start in life - and to relieve the parish of expense!). Vestry minutes and apprenticeship papers in parish collections are the main source

The second is a charitable apprenticeship (i.e. where local endowments provided for placing children as apprentices). Charity minutes and papers are the source

Then - and especially in London - there was formal apprenticeship through one of the guilds or City companies as a route to the freedom of the City / Borough required by anyone wishing to trade. By the early C18th (and even earlier) obtaining the freedom was more important than apprenticeship within the stated trade - so (e.g.) clockmakers weren't necessarily apprenticed to clockmakers! That makes searching tricky! But there is plenty of material. For London, all the City company records are at the Guildhall Library (though accessed at London Metropolitan Archives now). Most Borough archives include registers of apprenticed and/or freemen

Lastly, there were apprenticeships by private agreement - parent paying master to train and house a child from the age of 14 until 21. Before 1711 there's not much chance of picking these up, but a tax on apprenticeships was introducing in that year from when there are national registers of apprenticeships in the IR class (Inland Revenue) at The National Archives. These have been indexed and copies are (or were) available at the Society of Genealogists and in the main Guildhall Library reading room. They could be online by now - but I'm not aware of it.

Born 1702, so it's certainly worth checking the post-1711 apprenticeship records. And an enquiry to Trinity College would do no harm even if the possibility of an instant answer is remote (are there wages books for College servants, for instance)

Nobody has mentioned it, but Bill Cook's more recent History of the ASCY has some biographical material on Annable - but more about his ringing career than family background, for which Trollope still speaks best. Haven't checked it, but John Eisel's Giants of the Exercise will provide an overview of what is known about him - probably ironing out some of the inconsistencies and contradictions in other writings

CP
           
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